Feedback on the Forum

The third annual forum of the American Foundation took place on October 3 & 4, 2015 in New York City. It was the perfect opportunity to gather more than 70 people over a weekend: alumnus, students, young entrepreneurs and representatives from our two schools.

Highlight from this Forum

Saturday, October 3: alumnus networks

A meeting had been organized by the Association des Centraliens de Lyon and EMLYON FOREVER to share with our alumnus the latest news on the campus (new projects, focus on international, schools’ strategies…). This session was dedicated to our alumnus who took the time to meet us on a Saturday morning. The rallying of so many of them proved us one more time, the strong links that exist between our communities of alumnus and our schools.

Projects of the American Foundation

Marc Onetto, Chairman of the board of Directors of the American Foundation, went over the different projects Allyage supported during the past year: the second edition of the Startup Challenge, Concorde Program, CODAPPS Bus Tour and the SCANCOR project (still in process). His presentation was enhanced with the testimonies of two students who directly benefited from the American Foundation’s support: François Guezengar, student of the double-degree Centrale Lyon – EMLYON, and Alexandre Corbel, first candidate to the Concorde Program launched in June 2015.

To discover in more depth the projects supported by Allyage, please go to the menu “Our projects”.

Guest speakers

To illustrate the theme “Careers of tomorrow”, chosen for this year’s edition, several high-profile guest speakers had been invited to the Forum.

Jean-Pierre Bertoglio and Philippe Monin, Research Directors at Centrale Lyon and EMLYON (respectively) presented several research projects developed by their teams on campus. This schools’ contribution was very well received as it enabled a certain “popularization” of projects often perceived as too complex. It also brought to light synergies between our schools.

Three other interventions took place:

MingPo Cai, EMLYON alumni 98 and Founder & President of Cathay Capital Private Equity, for whom, the values of his firm are his own values that dictate his daily life;

Thibaut Munier, EMLYON alumni 96 and Co-Founder & COO of 1000Mercis Group, who shared his experience as a French entrepreneur, expatriated in the US;

Gary Reiner, Partner at General Atlantic & Retired SVP from General Electric, who, as an investor, brought a different vision on the entrepreneurial world.

Undoubtedly, these speeches will be remembered by all!

Startup Challenge final

Last but not least, an important moment of the New York Forum: the final phase of the second edition of the Startup Challenge. The three final teams defended their project with great fervor. The results are as follows:

The first prize of $15,000 was awarded to Sezam Labs, project led by Clément Barbier (EMLYON), Damien Jacquet (EMLYON) and Benoît Pascal;

The second and third prizes of $2,500 were awarded to Cy-Clope, project led by Antoine Di Tommaso (I.D.E.A Program) and Thibault Legrand (I.D.E.A. Program); and Gathering, which became known as « Edge Motion », project led by Aymeric Agré (Centrale Lyon), Ornella Arnouts (EMLYON), François Guezengar (double degree CENTRALE LYON – EMLYON) and Guillaume Ty (Centrale Lyon).

Once more, the participants were very impressed with the quality of the projects presented. We wish them all great success in their entrepreneurial journey!

From the rallying of so many alumnus and students from North America and the quality of the speeches of our high-profile guest speakers, this third Forum was a great success! We count on your support to ensure the achievement of the projects we develop in strong partnership with our two schools.

Pictures

All the photos from the Forum are available on our Facebook page. Click here to see the album!